Q: I have a question about certain costs which have been passed to our service charge by our freeholder. Our development opened in 2013. Every 12 months since then a fire safety review has been performed by a private company. As a result of these assessments a number of recommendations have been made due to […]
Q: I am sure you are aware that the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017) came into effect last year. These regulations require trustees to hold a considerable amount of personal information about settlors of trusts, including dates of birth and national insurance numbers. HMRC […]
Q: Our lease does not specify any rules, guidance or boundaries of responsibility for the use of, maintenance and insulation of loft space. Following an initial request to install loft insulation and use of loft space for simple storage from one owner, we would value further advice on the following: Expense – Are we (the Management […]
Q: The common hallway lighting circuits at our block recently failed an ‘electrical condition report’ due to the absence of an earth wire in the cabling. The block was built in 1965 and the wiring conforms to the standards in force at that date, The lighting cables pass current electrical insulation tests and during the last […]
Q: Two leaseholders consistently refuse to replace their windows. The last remaining flats to replace their window frames is proving a challenge. We have just carried out external painting and repairs to the wooden frames which has shown they are now beyond a proper repair and potentially dangerous due to the condition of the wooden […]
Q: The Residents have been advised by our managing agents that the freeholder would like the 18 leaseholders to pay for the resurfacing of the rear car park, as the surface has deteriorated and has a number of pot holes in it. We have been advised by the managing agents that the lease states that […]
Q: Although our residents’ association has been established for many years and is consulted by the freeholder’s agents, I don’t think we hold any particular legal status. What are our options going forward? For example, should we form a company and what kind of company? FPRA Committee member Bob Slee replies: You have indicated that […]
Q: We are discussing replacing our balconies which are the responsibility of the company. We think we should charge the 16 flats concerned with the actual costs for their balcony but there is some comment that it should be paid from the service charge. This would be unreasonable as eight ground floor flats do not […]
Q: We are a block of flats whose owners form a company owning our freehold. During the preparation of our company accounts for our AGM in March this year it came to light that our managing agents had paid an estimated electricity bill for £6300 without reference to us when the previous year’s total had […]
Q: We would be grateful for guidance on how frequently we should be testing our communal fire alarms (smoke detectors). The development comprises 11 blocks of flats ranging in size from three to 16 flats in four-storey buildings (including the ground floor). There are 117 flats in total and all communal areas have smoke alarms […]
